Healthy 'Flapjacks' for Kids (and grownups)

I have a very sweet tooth and unfortunately my kids have inherited this trait (especially little A who until very recently refused all forms of bread except brioche and peshwari naan!). Obviously I don’t want them snacking on unhealthy things but there’s only so much fruit a kid can eat before…you know. So, I thought I would make some kid-friendly 'flapjacks'. I searched online but I couldn’t find any that didn’t contain both butter and sugar or syrup, so I set to work making my own. Here’s what I have come up with; two different bars that are held together in slightly different ways. Try them both and see which you like best!

Mixed Fruit Oaty Bar

1.5 cup Oats

1 Cup Mixed Dried Fruit/Nuts Chopped

(I used Dates, Apricots, Pears, Raisins and Berries)

1 Banana (Mine was medium)

.25 cup Set Honey

Mix all dry ingredients together, then mash the banana up with a fork and mix with the honey. Thoroughly stir this into the oat mix, it will take a while but it will get there. If it looks really dry then add a bit more honey (it depends how big your banana was as to how wet it will be).

Press into a smallish lined baking tin and bake at 150C for 15-20 mins. Score gently where you intend to cut and then leave to cool completely before turning out and cutting into squares. Enjoy!

Cherry and Pecan Oaty Bar

1.5 cup Oats

.5 cup Pecans and Dried Cherries chopped

5 Dried Dates

5 Dried Prunes

4 Dried Figs

.25 cup Runny Honey

Mix the dry ingredients together. Using a food processor blitz the Dates, Prunes, Figs and Honey together to make a paste. Mix the paste into the dry mix, it will take a bit of work and may need a bit more honey if you’re struggling. Bake and finish as above, and enjoy!

My kids (we) devoured these very quickly and there were no arguments when given one of these instead of a doughnut or biscuit which I thought was a pretty good result!

I hope you like them, let me know which one you prefer and feel free to play around with them a bit! Make sure to let me know if you have a kitchen eureka, we would be willing guinea pigs :)

Thanks for dropping in, see you soon!

Hayley

xxx